The decision on whether a reset is required is a hotly debated topic, one that often appears in the Bootleggers forums. Opinions seem divided and I’m going to delve into the reasons why there can be no definitive answer to our problem of when a round should reach its inevitable conclusion.
We are currently sitting on day 515 in round 7 and at the time of writing there are 158 members online. It’s no secret that over the course of a round there will be a gradual decline in the active user base of Bootleggers, and this round is no different. From a high of 661 players currently online this round, we have seen a 76% fall in the number of users playing. Quite a dramatic decline wouldn’t you agree? This begs the question as to whether a reset has been prolonged for too long and this is harming the experience of our active members. A reset would surely bring about an influx of old players all keen to start afresh and race to see who could assert their dominance on the new round. Haven’t we waited long enough to have a wide array of players all active once more? A reset would certainly be a short term solution to a round labelled as ‘dead’ by many players, in desperate need of a change-up. However, how long would these players remain if the problems of old still exist? I’m sure the domination of The Syndicate is still fresh in the memories of our Bootleggers community and the moderators will be eager to avoid such an event reoccurring.
Perhaps this is why we are yet to be informed of a date for the next reset to take place; the moderators may be waiting for the highly anticipated crew update to be released before sending us all into another round. We may even act as guinea pigs for the update to test whether it has solved the problems of old and to see what needs to be tweaked in order to ensure round 8 will be deemed a success. I for one am looking forward to seeing what the update has in store for us all and am sure the Bootleggers community will not be disappointed.
Nevertheless, I still feel a reset earlier on in this round would have satisfied many players and perhaps put some of the forum critics on hold for a while. The end of round 6 ended in similar fashion, with a dwindling user base and activity levels at all time lows. Those in more senior positions to ourselves could be accused of leaving it too long before taking affirmative action, although I’m sure they have their reasons. Perhaps shortening all round lengths could be an effective way of keeping the number of active users at a consistently higher level. At the end of the day, this is a mafia based game and people are going to get shot- that’s the whole point of the game, right? Once people die, they have fallen behind all their competition and suddenly end up right back at square one, surrendering their once esteemed position. You can hardly blame people for lacking the motivation to start again, and perhaps this is where the problem lies. No matter how many updates, people will eventually stop playing the more they get killed and their interest in Bootleggers will fade.
Could the answer be to shorten rounds to a significantly lower number of days? If so, how many days? Will the new updates set to be released ensure round 8 will keep hold of its active members for a longer period of time? There are many questions to ponder and I’m sure many people will have conflicting views. My personal opinion is that round lengths should be shortened to roughly 6 months in order to keep a more active user base, whilst still giving a sufficient period of time for plenty of action to take place. I for one am looking forward to the upcoming updates and like many others, hope they revolutionize Bootleggers for the better.
